1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical-surgical product disposal devices used in hospitals, infirmaries, and doctors' offices, and more particularly to a device for permanently capping the contaminated end of disposable surgical sharps such as hypodermic needles.
2. Description of Related Art
During the past ten years, the medical care providers have employed disposable, one-time-use only, medical-surgical devices and materials with increasing frequency. This trend is away from the former procedure of sterilization and re-use of these devices, both for reasons of expense and sterility.
Present protocol in those institutions employing the use-and-dispose philosophy entails the use of a single container to hold and dispose of a multitude of small sharp implements, e.g., hypodermic needles, trocars, stylets, etc., employed in surgical procedures, along with other medical waste such as dressings, cotton applicators and the like.
This method of depositing a multitude of medical waste products renders it virtually impossible to maintain a strict accounting of the sharps used in a particular surgical procedure which is absolutely necessary to ensure that none remain in a patient after surgery.
It is also desirable that these surgical sharps be disposed in a manner which deters the casual scavenger intent on procuring hypodermic needles for illicit purposes.
Because many of these surgical sharps have tubular end sections which, after use, contain the bodily fluids of a patient, these used sharps pose additional risks to the surgical staff, especially if the sharps are disposed of in a manner which permits uncontrolled accumulation of such fluids during a surgical procedure. If the disposal container is accidentally bumped, jostled or otherwise knocked of a sterile table top, the accumulated fluids may splatter, causing operating room personnel to receive such fluids in an exposed area such as the eye. This is particularly dangerous to medical staff where the patient has a communicable disease.
It would thus be desirable to have a device for ensuring permanent disposition of used surgical sharps, including those with tubular end sections, in a safe and facile manner, while simultaneously ensuring that a strict accounting of the disposed sharps can be maintained.